Category: Book Reviews

Calla Fletcher wasn’t even two when her mother took her and fled the Alaskan wild, unable to handle the isolation of the extreme, rural lifestyle, leaving behind Calla’s father, Wren Fletcher, in the process. Calla never looked back, and at twenty-six, a busy life in Toronto is all she knows. But when Calla learns that Wren’s days may be numbered, she knows that it’s time to make the long trip back to the remote frontier town where she was born.

She braves the roaming wildlife, the odd daylight hours, the exorbitant prices, and even the occasional—dear God—outhouse, all for the chance to connect with her father: a man who, despite his many faults, she can’t help but care for. While she struggles to adjust to this rugged environment, Jonah—the unkempt, obnoxious, and proud Alaskan pilot who helps keep her father’s charter plane company operational—can’t imagine calling anywhere else home. And he’s clearly waiting with one hand on the throttle to fly this city girl back to where she belongs, convinced that she’s too pampered to handle the wild.

Jonah is probably right, but Calla is determined to prove him wrong. Soon, she finds herself forming an unexpected bond with the burly pilot. As his undercurrent of disapproval dwindles, it’s replaced by friendship—or perhaps something deeper? But Calla is not in Alaska to stay and Jonah will never leave. It would be foolish of her to kindle a romance, to take the same path her parents tried—and failed at—years ago. It’s a simple truth that turns out to be not so simple after all.

Set in the picturesque background of Alaska and seeing it through Calla’s eyes was certainly a fun experience. Also new and unfamiliar to the place, her sense of wonderment and puzzlement consumed me to the core and made me feel like I’m exploring it alongside with her. I love how the striking differences between the simple Alaska and fast-paced city life were described so well in the book. Alaska may be years behind in terms of advancement but the sense of contentment & community unquestionably makes up for it.

A Chicago reporter in her mid-twenties unexpectedly finds love in Napa Valley when she’s assigned to spend a week with a famously reclusive genius.

Kate Corbin has lost her spark. From the outside, her life seems charmed. She has a handsome, long-term boyfriend and a budding journalism career at a popular Chicago newspaper. But in reality, her relationship is going nowhere, and she’s quickly losing motivation for what she once believed was her dream job. When her boyfriend dumps her unceremoniously, Kate loses all hope of finding love.

With no living family and few friends, Kate confides in her boss. Trusting that the hungry, ace reporter is buried somewhere deep inside, he gives Kate the opportunity to jumpstart her career. The assignment: to interview the famously reclusive R.J. Lawson, a wealthy tech genius who disappeared years ago but recently reemerged as a Napa Valley vintner. The week takes an unexpected turn, however, when Lawson refuses to divulge any information. Desperate for a lead, Kate turns to Jamie, a vineyard hand who shows her the romance of wine country—and stirs her aching heart. But his connection to Lawson is ambiguous, and when Jamie disappears before the end of the week, Kate is left to investigate another story: the truth behind the man who stole her heart.

USA TODAY bestselling author Renée Carlino explored love and heartbreak in her beautifully written debut Sweet Thing, and her newest novel does not disappoint. For fans of Colleen Hoover, K.A. Tucker, and Katja Millay, Nowhere But Here is a stirring and satisfying romance that you won’t want to put down.

Nowhere But Here is a book peppered all throughout with beautiful and inspirational messages.

No matter how drama filled this book is and how cheesy some moments get, being able to read and witness Kate’s character blossoming as a person was a wonderful sight. It has a bit of everything thrown in. Life, love, relationships, finding your person and on top of that – being able to find yourself through those experiences, Carlino’s book got you. I laughed and swooned because of Jamie, almost caused me to pull some of my hair out because of Kate and even cringed in some parts of the book because of too much sweetness. Reading Nowhere But Here is such a roller coaster ride.

This book has a great setting and I love how the author wrote about it. Renée Carlino’s description was rich and vibrant, which will make us, readers, feel like being transported to Napa Valley at that specific time frame. It felt like I was right alongside Kate’s character and exploring the place together with them.

Maxwell Jameson Trevor, prince of Lilaria, hates his royal role. Despising the limelight, he takes solace in his art studio and steers clear of any drama. But when one of the newly discovered royals passes away, Maxwell’s brother Alex asks him to break the news to the old man’s granddaughter. Though he hates to be the bearer of doom and gloom, he doesn’t want the poor girl to find out from the tabloids. For Maxwell knows all too well how devastating that could be.

Coming from a broken home and modest background, newly ordained Lady Meredith Thysmer has seized her chance to make a better life for herself and her son. She’s not afraid to use her best assets to get what she wants. But when the unpretentious yet devastatingly handsome Max delivers his news, her plans for the future come crashing to a halt. In the challenging days ahead, Max’s compassion, humor, and steadfast loyalty to Meredith and her son win her over. She quickly finds herself doing something she swore would never happen again: falling in love. And yet Maxwell still refuses to completely drop his guard. Somehow Meredith’s got to find a way to seduce this reluctant royal.

Reluctantly Royal focuses on the story of Max (sibling to Alex and Cathy from the previous books). I love the fact that Max get to have his own book because it feels like the series has now come to a full circle and readers get the chance to read the stories for each sibling. Plus, Max is a very interesting character. He shies away from the spotlight that comes along with him being a prince. That’s like inevitable when you’re a prince, right? Weird but you’ll surely want to know more about the back story of his character.

I enjoyed Reluctantly Royal as much as the other books of the series. The story is narrated from two POVs (Max and Meredith) which is quite a change considering that the first two books were from the voices of the female lead characters. The narration was quite good but it cannot be helped that their voices goes from very distinct to confusing the hell out of me scale on who’s doing the talking on that specific chapter. But all in all, it’s a good attempt in the dual POV scene and it’s great to hear/read from both of our main characters’ point of view. Reading books in dual POVs, feels like the author entrusted you and given you a head start on something. I appreciate that.

Following the unexpected death of her father, 18-year-old Layken is forced to be the rock for both her mother and younger brother. Outwardly, she appears resilient and tenacious, but inwardly, she’s losing hope.

Enter Will Cooper: The attractive, 21-year-old new neighbor with an intriguing passion for slam poetry and a unique sense of humor. Within days of their introduction, Will and Layken form an intense emotional connection, leaving Layken with a renewed sense of hope.

Not long after an intense, heart-stopping first date, they are slammed to the core when a shocking revelation forces their new relationship to a sudden halt. Daily interactions become impossibly painful as they struggle to find a balance between the feelings that pull them together, and the secret that keeps them apart.

Slammed isn’t the type of book wherein readers just witness how the story of the main characters go (fall in love and suddenly there’s a certain hindrance for them to be able to pursue their love for each other). Colleen Hoover and Slammed gives us more than that.

I’ve read and reviewed Slammed over my previous blog a couple of years back already. Recently, I had the urge to reread it and I did end up doing it. Thus, the appearance of this book review here.

Slammed didn’t just present us the rainbows and unicorn moments in a person’s life but it reminded us about the most inevitable matter in life, death. Everything about this book is realistic and something that all of us can really easily relate to. We are treated with a front row seat of the highs and lows a family could experience. Portrayals of days wherein a person experiences pure bliss and days wherein life just felt the need to pull the rug under our feet. All we can do is learn and suck it all up.

The Voss family is anything but normal. They live in a repurposed church, newly baptized Dollar Voss. The once cancer-stricken mother lives in the basement, the father is married to the mother’s former nurse, the little half-brother isn’t allowed to do or eat anything fun, and the eldest siblings are irritatingly perfect. Then, there’s Merit.

Merit Voss collects trophies she hasn’t earned and secrets her family forces her to keep. While browsing the local antiques shop for her next trophy, she finds Sagan. His wit and unapologetic idealism disarm and spark renewed life into her—until she discovers that he’s completely unavailable. Merit retreats deeper into herself, watching her family from the sidelines, when she learns a secret that no trophy in the world can fix.

Fed up with the lies, Merit decides to shatter the happy family illusion that she’s never been a part of before leaving them behind for good. When her escape plan fails, Merit is forced to deal with the staggering consequences of telling the truth and losing the one boy she loves.

Poignant and powerful, WITHOUT MERIT explores the layers of lies that tie a family together and the power of love.

“Not every mistake deserves a consequence. Sometimes the only thing a mistake deserves is forgiveness.”

Colleen Hoover is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Slammed, This Girl, Point of Retreat, Hopeless, Losing Hope, Finding Cinderella, Maybe Someday, Ugly Love, Maybe Not, Confess, November 9, and It Ends with Us. She has won the Goodreads Choice Award for Best Romance twice – for Confess in 2015 and It Ends with Us in 2016. Confess was adapted into a seven-episode online series. In 2015, Colleen and her family founded The Bookworm Box, a bookstore and monthly subscription service offering signed novels donated by authors. All profits are given to various charities each month to help those in need. Colleen lives in Texas with her husband and their three boys. Please visit ColleenHoover.com.

I love It Ends with Us. I love Maybe Someday. I love November 9. I love so and so and so. Basically, I love all of her novels. But Without Merit is that book that spoke to me in a different kind of level. It was released at a time, the perfect kind of time, that I truly needed it the most.